The podcast player puzzle
Stitcher's departure and the importance of podcast players
Podcast player apps are an essential tools for avid listeners. So the news this week that Stitcher is being discontinued is a blow to its users. It’s also a blow to the industry. The SiriusXM owned app is one of the oldest and most popular players.
Launched in 2008 Stitcher quickly gained a loyal following by offering a range of content and presenting it on an easy-to-use platform. Podcast players are the gateway to our listeners so the mechanics of it are important.
It comes at a time when we are seeing a shift towards personalised content and the addition of features such as comments to encourage community engagement and crypto-tipping to support monetisation.
Do we need these new features though when many players don’t fulfil the basic needs of being able to easily search for and play (or continue playing) a podcast? Discoverability and a simple interface should be the priority. Anything added to that is really just decoration.
✂️ Cut The Tape
If the functionality isn’t there for listeners to be able to seek out content that resonates with them and easily press a button to play it; then the player doesn’t work. If people can’t listen easily, they won’t listen. The impact of that on the industry needs due consideration.
🎧 What’s your favourite player app and why? Let everyone know in the comments…
Last week I delved into sample rates and the impact they have on audio quality. It was by far the most read Stop. Rewind. Play. so far and sparked a few grateful DMs and a couple of emails.
Among them was a thoughtful response from sound researcher and Phantom Power host Mack Hagood, who added clarity to a point I had made as I attempted to simplify the world of audio quality.
In the original post I compared the sample rates of a number of well-known audio formats including a cassette.
Mack said: “There’s a difference between sample rate and frequency response, which are easily confused because they are both measured in kilohertz. Because it’s analog, tape doesn’t have a sample rate—it just uses a magnet to transduce audio to tape in a continuous flow. 20kHz is its frequency response—the highest frequency it can reproduce.
“All of your other examples are digital, so they have sample rates—snapshots of sound per second. However, the sample rate is double the highest frequency the format can reproduce. So, the CD you mentioned operates at 44.1 so that it can reproduce 22kHz—just a little better than the cassette tape.
Comparing frequency response to sample rate is apples and oranges, but this means your point is even more important. At Twitter’s 16kHz sample rate, it’s only reproducing 8kHz—less than half the range of the tape!”
The online version of the post has been updated following Mack’s email.
🎧 #Podcasting
SiriusXM to close podcast app Stitcher | Endgadget
Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B investing in audio | The Verge
Veritonic to measure YouTube podcast consumption | Business Wire
The 10 pillars of indie podcasting | thepodcasthost.com
Big Tent Media has a new Instagram account. Follow me at @bigtent.media for podcasting tips and updates
🎶 #SoundDesign
Moog is acquired by InMusic | Audio Media International
Lucrecia Martel says Marvel’s sound design is ‘ugly’ | Far Out Magazine
🔮 #AudioFuture
Sound designer Michael Haines explores AI in sound design | LBBOnline
Global measurement tool AudioLab in beta | The Media Leader
Research into ‘voiceprints’ hopes to strengthen voice authentication | The Register
How does Shazam identify songs? | Wall Street Journal
🗣 #SocialAudio
Twitter using bots to stress-test the system | @_andrewlyons
Getting the best audio quality in remote meetings | Shure
This week on #AllThingsAudio we spoke about the rise of bots in Twitter Spaces. It’s a tale of good and bad; while some hosts appear to be boosting listener stats with bots, Twitter is flooding its own Spaces with bot accounts - but why?
Follow All Things Audio wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you never miss an episode. Leave a rating and/or review to help more people find us.
Why was a snare player who couldn’t play the snare important to the sound of the new adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front? And what happens when a composer is asked to provide a sound track that has never been heard before?
In this 17-minute episode of Soundworks Collection we hear from director Edward Berger, composer Volker Bertelmann, supervising sound editor and sound designer Frank Kruse, sound designer Markus Stemler and re-recording Mixer Lars Ginzel. A whistle-stop tour through the sound and music used in the re-make of this harrowing war story.
“Listen to everything until it all belongs together and you are part of it”